≡ PDF Gratis The Marne 1914 The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World Holger H Herwig 9781400066711 Books

The Marne 1914 The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World Holger H Herwig 9781400066711 Books

Download As PDF : The Marne 1914 The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World Holger H Herwig 9781400066711 Books

The Marne 1914 The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World Holger H Herwig 9781400066711 Books

This is one more book about the famous battle. It is also the History of the War in the West up to and including the Battle of the Marne and the aftermath.
It is a good one,well written and based on the mainstream Historiography,essentially on the thorough examination of German and English sources and books and to a lesser extend French ones.
The Author uses two thirds of the book to explain the opening moves of the War in the West describing well,accurately and in fascinating detail all relevant battles, so as to explain in a lucid way how the Battle of the Marne ,the turning point was reached.
He severely judges Gen. Joffre in the first part of the book,who by being an unflappable and profound strategic thinker and a dynamic manager saved the War for the Allies by taking and implementing more right decisions while at War than his staff did in peacetime.
He is lenient to that miserable little man, Sir John French who caused the disappointing performance of the BEF ,a first class professional Army ,deserving better leadership. ( the most honest and unforgiving judgement on Sir J. F can be found in Sir Max Hastings book Catastrophe 1914)
The Author treats very well Gen.Larenzac who was an intelligent but an arrogant and uncooperative commander at best.
Those are minor remarks to an overall significant work,especially in the last third of the book that deals with the actual battle. Before describing this battle, he correctly points out an important event often neglected by the Historians:
The Battle of the Grande Couronne in the area from there to Epinal,that was the first significant victory of the French Armies in 1914 and the first German retreat prior to the Marne. So he demonstrates that the most important Battle of the Frontiers was won in Lorraine by the French,fixed the German left and contributed to the strategic importance of the Battle of the Marne.
Describing the Battle of the Marne the Author is clear,precise,diligent and persuasive. In fact it is one of the better descriptions of what ,why and how took place there and clears any doubts as to who was responsible for what. I would like to read a longer elaboration of Maunoury's. Engagements but the accuracy is there even if some further details would be welcome .
His Epilogue is fair and concise. The book is written in a fine prose and it can be read easily by both scholars and the general educated Public.
DVK
PS A minor point that I must repeat is that all Anglo-Saxon Historians call Gen. Joffre's family humble. Far from it,his family owned a barrel making business at a time that barrel making was important and they were very well-off financially ,bourgeois,Middle Class land owners in a Republican France that is why they could give their son a first class and expensive education
DVK

.


Tags : The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World [Holger H. Herwig] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. It is one of the essential events of military history, a cataclysmic encounter that prevented a quick German victory in World War I and changed the course of two wars and the world. Now,Holger H. Herwig,The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World,Random House,1400066719,Marne (France), 1st Battle of the, 1914.,Marne, 1st Battle of the, France, 1914.,History,History - Military War,History Military World War I,Marne, 1st Battle of the, France, 1914,Military,Military - World War I,World War I

The Marne 1914 The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World Holger H Herwig 9781400066711 Books Reviews

On first glance, one would think this is just about the pivotal Battle of the Marne, when in fact it covers in superb detail, all the battles that ranged across the Franco-German border those 60 (+) days following that faithful mobilization of the great powers, giving you the feel of the command and control issues facing the British, French, and German Generals, as well as the changing tide of war from the near victorious Germans (following the initial 'Battle of the Frontiers') to the collapse of von Moltke's command and control of the wayward 1st and 2nd German Armies, that eventually culminated into the great cataclysm of the First World War
As we come up on the centenary of the beginning of the Great War, here is a helpful and careful work of scholarship
on the first six weeks of the war in France. The author considers the whole campaign, up to the German decision
to fall back to the Aisne, as the "battle" of the Marne, rather than just the turnaround near the river itself.

Most books available in English stress the Anglo-French viewpoint, as they face their adversaries. Herwig's work is very valuable because he gives equal, if not greater, weight to the German side. The overall conclusions are not surprising structural weaknesses in the German high command led them to abandon a battle that they might have won. There has been much argument about whether the Schlieffen plan could have worked or was hopeless from the start Herwig contents himself with a detailed account of how, in the event, it came unstuck. The day-to-day developments are well laid out and make compelling reading.

Some reviewers have complained that the maps are not superb; I agree. But I have been hard pressed to find better ones, since most modern accounts of the campaign limit themselves to "big-picture" maps.

Something valuable that I learned from Herwig's book this was the moment that the German Empire ceased to be a loose federation of several principates (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg) and became a single nation with a unified army. It is a fine illustration of Victor Davis Hanson's thesis of the capacity of shock battle to change history.
While a bit technical in terms of the military unit details, Herwig does an excellent job explaining the battle, how it developed and why it went the way it did. His focus on the battle as much from the German side as from the side of the Entente powers allows for a much more balanced view of how things developed the way they did over the initial 10 days of conflict. This is an excellent resource for understanding what happened on the Western front at the beginning of hostilities and I recommend it to anyone who wants a more detailed and balanced account.
I got this book to learn more about the fateful visit of German General Staff Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hentsch to the Western front during the battle of the Marne, which ended in the retreat of the German army and stalemate on the Western Front. This book answered my questions in a factual and unbiased way. The worst aspects are that Holger is obviouslyEnglish Second Language and that the maps don’t enhance the text-lots of references to places not on the maps etc. I needed a good map of northwest France & Belgium to keep track of the text, and some of the battle areas have become urbanized creating a mass of new places that weren’t there in 1914. The book's strongest point is that while Holger does give his opinions where they are needed, they are reasonably unbiased and fact based, in sharp contrast to most of the popular histories which tend to propaganda. This book remains a history rather than an augment about history.
Nobody breaks it down like Holger. He does tons of research and brings the facts to life with an amazing ability to covey a storyline of the events in a way which brings it to life. This is a pivotal moment in history, and his account is crucial for anyone attempting to understand the impact of WW1 on the world today.
This is one more book about the famous battle. It is also the History of the War in the West up to and including the Battle of the Marne and the aftermath.
It is a good one,well written and based on the mainstream Historiography,essentially on the thorough examination of German and English sources and books and to a lesser extend French ones.
The Author uses two thirds of the book to explain the opening moves of the War in the West describing well,accurately and in fascinating detail all relevant battles, so as to explain in a lucid way how the Battle of the Marne ,the turning point was reached.
He severely judges Gen. Joffre in the first part of the book,who by being an unflappable and profound strategic thinker and a dynamic manager saved the War for the Allies by taking and implementing more right decisions while at War than his staff did in peacetime.
He is lenient to that miserable little man, Sir John French who caused the disappointing performance of the BEF ,a first class professional Army ,deserving better leadership. ( the most honest and unforgiving judgement on Sir J. F can be found in Sir Max Hastings book Catastrophe 1914)
The Author treats very well Gen.Larenzac who was an intelligent but an arrogant and uncooperative commander at best.
Those are minor remarks to an overall significant work,especially in the last third of the book that deals with the actual battle. Before describing this battle, he correctly points out an important event often neglected by the Historians
The Battle of the Grande Couronne in the area from there to Epinal,that was the first significant victory of the French Armies in 1914 and the first German retreat prior to the Marne. So he demonstrates that the most important Battle of the Frontiers was won in Lorraine by the French,fixed the German left and contributed to the strategic importance of the Battle of the Marne.
Describing the Battle of the Marne the Author is clear,precise,diligent and persuasive. In fact it is one of the better descriptions of what ,why and how took place there and clears any doubts as to who was responsible for what. I would like to read a longer elaboration of Maunoury's. Engagements but the accuracy is there even if some further details would be welcome .
His Epilogue is fair and concise. The book is written in a fine prose and it can be read easily by both scholars and the general educated Public.
DVK
PS A minor point that I must repeat is that all Anglo-Saxon Historians call Gen. Joffre's family humble. Far from it,his family owned a barrel making business at a time that barrel making was important and they were very well-off financially ,bourgeois,Middle Class land owners in a Republican France that is why they could give their son a first class and expensive education
DVK

.